Microsoft has named two new advertising and media agencies, Interpublic Group and Dentsu Aegis, to handle its global advertising and media buying — shifting away from some of its longtime partners, including one that it used to own, Seattle-based Razorfish.
The stakes are high for the agencies, given the overall advertising and marketing spending of $2.6 billion in its last fiscal year. The announcement concludes an agency review that Microsoft started in January.
The shift is one of a series of changes at the company under new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and marketing leader Chris Capossela, a longtime Microsoft executive who recently returned to the role of chief marketing officer.
Nadella has made it clear that Microsoft will take on more of an underdog “challenger” mentality, and that approach could extend to its advertising. Microsoft aired its first national Super Bowl ad earlier this year.
“We are thrilled to work with the teams at IPG and Dentsu Aegis,” Chris Capossela said in a statement. “We believe both groups will help us communicate more strategically and efficiently in a rapidly evolving marketplace.”
Advertising Age has a good rundown on the winners and losers in the deal. Those left in the cold include Razorfish, the digital agency that was acquired by Microsoft as part of its aQuantive deal, and later sold to Publicis Groupe, which was an incumbent Microsoft advertising agency.
